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Meet Nigel North: The greatest lutenist of all time

This month's Early Music Series in Grayslake features a concert by Nigel North, proclaimed by one music critic as "the greatest performer of the instrument of all time." Yet I don't even know the word to describe what he does. A lutist? A loutist? A luthier? A lutefisker? A luter sounds like someone who might perform at Riot Fest.

"It's lutenist," says North, who shows remarkable patience with my ignorance about the lute, an instrument that has enjoyed several golden ages of popularity during the last couple of millennia.

North, the 61-year-old British-born lutenist, international recording artist and professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, will perform "Cantabile" at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at the Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake, as part of the Liberty Prairie Foundation's 14th annual Early Music Series. Tickets are $20 and available only by cash or check at the door. Concertgoers are allowed to bring wine, beer and snacks.

"Never before has a musician of this stature appeared in the Early Music Series," says Joel Spears, a Gurnee lutenist and teacher who serves as artistic director of the Early Music Series. Being dubbed the greatest lutenist ever inspires humility in the modest North.

"We've no idea," North says in brushing aside that claim. "We don't know how famous lute players 300 years ago sounded."

The lute, a guitar-like instrument with a pear-shaped body, is derived from the ud, an instrument that has been traced back to the seventh century in Persia. Europeans brought the stringed instrument back from the Crusades, made changes, and the lute became a popular instrument throughout the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.

As a boy, North loved the British instrumental rock group The Shadows, with their lyrical guitar sound.

"What they did is what caught my attention first," remembers North, who played guitar and violin as a child. "I still listen to them in my car."

At age 15, North discovered that the melodic guitar tones he enjoyed sounded even better on the lute, an instrument he grew to love so much that he left school early to master the instrument before heading to the Royal College of Music.

"It's expressive. It's delicate. It's literally at my fingertips," North says, explaining how each string produces an ethereal sound. "You make it alive, and it's dying already."

And there can be so many strings. Most are arranged in pairs known as courses, while other strings stand alone.

"Anytime I pick up a six-string guitar, it's so much easier," says North, whose concert in Grayslake will have him playing 17th-century music on an 11-course French lute. "The lute is not an easy instrument to play. If you want a simple life, don't pick a lute."

All lute jokes play off the tedious tuning required of an instrument that might have 24 strings, says Spears, who tells of the 80-year-old lutenist who spent 60 years tuning his instrument and 20 years playing it. (For those of you whose humor palate requires a lutenist-free joke: Why is a harp like your elderly parents? Both are unforgiving and difficult to get in and out of your car.)

Many people know the lute only from seeing the instrument in Renaissance paintings, during performances of "Greensleeves" or in Monty Python skits where minstrels sing about knights. While Johann Sebastian Bach wrote pieces for the lute in the 18th century, the life of the instrument has spanned centuries and nations.

A soloist, ensemble performer, instructor and lecturer, Spears also holds the unique position of theorbo teacher at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, which is the first (and, I'm guessing, only) high school in the United States with a Baroque ensemble that features a theorbo, which is a type of lute with an almost comically long neck.

"There are plenty of youngsters who are learning the lute," North says. The Lute Society of America's lute-rental program celebrates its 10th anniversary in July.

"You have to have a talent and something in your personality that draws the lute to you," North says.

"It's just about the music," says Spears "The lute is not a loud instrument, and it draws you in."

For more about North's concert, visit libertyprairie.org/earlymusic.

Artistic director of the Early Music Series at Liberty Prairie Foundation in Grayslake, Joel Spears of Gurnee is a professional lutenist and proud promoter of the lute. Courtesy of Joel Spears
There are many different kinds and sizes of lutes, an ancient instrument that has enjoyed several golden ages during the last couple of millennia. Gurnee's Joel Spears plays one of the larger variations during this concert. Courtesy of Joel Spears
Difficult to play, and even to tune, the lute comes in a variety of sizes with varying numbers of strings, says Joel Spears, a Gurnee lutenist and artistic director of the Early Music Series at Liberty Prairie Foundation in Grayslake. Courtesy of Joel Spears
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